New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-01-21
MUSIC.
EEETHOYEN,S " FIDELIO.r

Fidelio" has been twice performed this al
the METROPOLITAN Opera House-on Friday OF last week
| and again on Wednesday last. The attendance and
the enthusiasm evol ed by both performances declare
that the revival for such it must he set DOWN.
was as genuine q success as management and the
artists have scored this season. We think that there
something OF a surprise in this success. III Man.
ager Stanton had expected that the opera would re so
we'll received he would not have announced Herr
Niemanns last appearance FIorestan' last
| Wednesday.
But the traditions against it. The performances
two years ago under DR.. Damrosch exceedingly
merItorous. but they did not arouse opeea-goers
OF their ethargy with respect to the work bat lett
them ia their old disposition OF respectful federation
and ap0logetical compaisance There was therefore
no valid reason surface tor expecting change
in the attitude OF the public toward the opera Alter
more than eighty years critical voices may yet be
heard ecboing the Judgment of the Vienna audiences
that condemned Beethoven's only opera. Some who
have acknowledged the triumph of the work during
the last week frankly and ungrudgingly enough have
yet thought 1t necessary to account for it by reasons
sought and osensiby found outside of the Like
the gina enemies OF threequartes OF a century ago
whose esthetical creed was the antipodes OF theirs
they have complacentlv denied the music dramatic
qualities This is like the dctum which shuts Wieland
outside the pale that hedges round the classics 10
German literature. W hen NJ comes 10 broad
terization we classify Beeth oven with tn, epic
poets in music. but while doing will bless
his memory for the profoundly dramatic music with
which he Infused the simple story OF conlugal love
which is celebrated in Fideiio"
rnquestonably the remarkably fayorabls impression
made by the opera this tine due to considerable
extent 10 the vitality OF the performance In REVIEW
ing Herr Seids recent symphony concert we gave an
intimation OF HIS attitude toward Beethoyen's music
His aim is give II the most inensr Passionate ex-
preston OF which it is capable and in this aim no IS
seconded by Herr Nemann and Frnulen Lehmann. 10y
dn of utterance and oil varied vocal color
tor which he' go not to the music so much as 10 the
emOi Onal contents OF tire situation these artists as'
sisted by the band which EXPRESSES the will OF Herr
Seid manage to br.ng 10 The consciou sness tho
public that Beethovens is snrcharsed
with dramatic feeling OF the trnest kind They do
They show that in this there are tones Tor
the sUbtlest changes OF mood The device which Wag
used with such wonderful effect, OF delineating
the character well the sentiments Of each ndiyd
ual concerned in the play in the midst OF CONCERTED
pieces, has many beautiful Publications. in this
music and there is lack OF vivid scenic deneation
well Yet these aims are accomplished as they are
not always accomplished In Wagners dramas. by
purely musical means At tpes, too. Beethoven co IL
bines all these elements as. Tor instance. in the duet
between Rocco and " Leonore" while the grave is
digging. Here not the two nature and their
emotions presented in unmIstakabIo coors but the
effect OF the contrast between them Is wonderfully
heightened and their gloomy occupation pictured oy
the orchestral accompanimcnt especial by the
rolling figure in the BASES like the falling OF clods
upon O coffin, Berlioz suggests. With what mar
yeous truthtuiuess too are the suher'ngs well as
the surroundings OF Fiorestanr delneaed in the III
PRODUCTION to the second act the longing desparng
hungering victim OF a oonsoencrless wretch and the
darkness in which he lice, literally ga thick dark
ness" darkness which might be felt"
Here 1: may not be out OF place 20 say.
the Metropolitan dbl not second Herr Se.dls
splendid efforts: The stuee at both repre-
seuations light that f:orestan's" tirs excla-
nation, Cot! welch- Dunke berw would have
sounded like sarcasm had il not been given with
such awe-nspiring power by Herr NIemann. More
over. burning lamp hung irom The vaulted root and
daylight tell iul into the subterranean dungeon from
window iarAe a church door. Herr Niemsnn
sang his ar thrillingly and tho duet with FIauein
Lehman was remc ndous 0utburst OF Joy that t
swept the audience of their feet and into a tumult of
ubiaton like that of the reunited lovers The dra-
matte strength Of Fraulein Lebmanns singing was I'M
depable. but her has plu nmet that can sound
the whole depth OF tenderness aud pahos which il in
the character OF Leonore." Like Herr Niemann she
occasionally sought TO heghten the dramatic effect Of
voice Wagner relates with enthusiasm how Schroeder
Deyrent wont 10 give u supreme emphasis to the
phrase just preceding the trumpet calling the quartet
which marks the climax OF the opera, Another step
and you are dedd!" by speaking the last word with
awful accent despair" He then comments: The
ndescbab;e effect this manifested itselt to all ike
agoniznc plunge from sphere into another and
its sublimty consisted in this that with lightning
guckness we were given glimpse of the nature Of
both spheres, Of which the ideal the other the
real" Madame Schroeder Devrient tho beginning
of the modern ,hOds of dramatic expression and Is
is easy believe that sudden change like that so
we'll defined BY Wagner, made with her sweeping voice
and accompanied by her plastic acting, wa~ really
thrilling. But it 10 TO feared that we NAV before
cng get something too mucl of this style of musical
ntuation At east for the present would prefer
it kept out OF musc which Is amply pressve in
tself. Fraulein Lehman tho wboio phrase
instead OF singing it. aud the effect scarcely DO set
'Own successful. II might have been han the same
levioe not been ovordnne by Her Robinson ~ we'll
Is Herr Niemann and Frauein Lchmann. To The vi
ity and passionate intensity OF Herr Seids reading
# the score we gratefully pay the deserved tribute Of
dmiration vet marvel that he did not realize that
% pa. theoverture" Leonore No 3" after the dungeon